Effect of Al substitution on the structural and magnetic properties of Co-Zn ferrites

• DOI: 10.1016/j.physb.2017.07.043
• Publication Date: 2017-07-20T05:48:16Z
• Authors: N. Murali; S.J. Margarette; G. Pavan Kumar; B. Sailaja; S. Yonatan Mulushoa; P. Himakar; B. Kishore Babu; V. Veeraiah
• Keywords: 02 engineering and technology; 0210 nano-technology

Abstract In this work we investigate the effect of aluminum (Al) substitution on the structural, morphological and magnetic properties of Co0.5Zn0.5AlxFe2−xO4 (x = 0.0, 0.05 and 0.1) prepared by sol-gel method. The structural and magnetic properties are performed by using X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectra (FT-IR) and Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM) studies. The XRD data revealed the formation of single phase cubic spinel with crystallite sizes around 45.83–51.84 nm for Al substituted samples. Two significant absorption bands around 600 and 400 cm−1 are observed from FT-IR spectra of the samples under investigation, which confirmed the formation of a single-phase cubic spinel. Interionic bond lengths and bond angles confirm the solubility of Al in the spinel lattice and support the observed variation in magnetic properties. Using a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), saturation magnetization and coercivity are measured. A decrease in lattice parameter and saturation magnetization with increasing Al concentration is attributed to the difference in the ionic radii and weakening of exchange interactions.